It's amazing I posted considering I've signed up for netflix

I am only 8 days overdue on this post. That is EXCEPTIONAL for me. I couldn't be prouder of myself. We've had a great two weeks...let me share with you a bit of our awesomeness. Above, please see Fort Abigail. This impregnable castle of coziness blocked our front door for a good portion of last week. It was a four-room, cozy little cottage of a home...complete with library, garage, living room and bedroom- a real dream house! Abby invited me in to read James and the Giant Peach to her. I felt very privileged.

This is mostly a picture of the back of a bald man's head....but if you squint really hard, you can see my handsome nephew Parker standing closest to the projector screen. This is his academic awards day. His mom asked him who he would like to come and I was his number one draft pick! That guaranteed his Aunt Jamie would be there, cell phone camera a-blazing, shouting his name!

So the standard Las Vegan (that's Vay-gahn, not Vee-gun), spends as much time out of our fair city from mid-May to mid-September as possible. Well, a few days before Memorial Day (which is infamous for turning Henderson into a ghost town) we realized we were pretty much the last ones left in town...totally unacceptable. So when our season-pass holding Brother Chad announced he was headed down to the Happiest Place on Earth, we decided to come with. We had a great time! Every time I'm there, I come within an inch of buying a season pass. I always calm my frenzy by counting up all of my churro/auxiliary costs. My niece and nephew are adorable and we had a great time. As you can see, there's a lot of love between the cousins.

We were able to have breakfast in the park....complete with Mickey Waffles for Abigail and Brandon. I started the morning strong with an egg white frittata and fruit...knowing that it would be a stiff decline into debauchery by 10am. I actually had a moment when I was waiting for our waffle cone order when I started being afraid for my own mortality due to our consumption over the weekend. I saw everyone older than me...fanny packed, large bellied, tired and glassy eyed. And I saw everyone younger than me...energetic, svelte and fit. I felt sandwiched between two possibilities and realized that metaphorically, I was on my way to the fanny pack side of life. This waffle cone experience was very transcendent. Needless to say, I downloaded the My Fitness Pal app and am turning things around.



Did I mention that we ate, ate and ate? This is the Mickey Waffle 'after.' We stayed at our hotel- the Hyatt regency in orange county. We love the bunk beds (even with an only child, bunk beds are super duper fun), the pool, the awesome breakfast and the fun shuttle. They even did a "dive in" movie where you could watch Brave outside while floating in their heated pool. Abby's husband is going to have a hard time competing with Abby's father.

Other notables from the last two weeks:

• I went to a relief society meeting on personal safety...and even though I just wrote my senator 6 months ago, encouraging stiff gun control...I agreed to let Brandon get a gun. The officer there was very patient with my 500 questions and convinced me it was a good idea considering how many death threats and altercations Brandon has already had with work. Maybe I should have encouraged him to go into ice cream truck driving....I also learned how to respond to an assault, and am fully prepared to rip cheeks, bite off fingers and pop out eye balls if need be.
• I went to my first boot camp class with my friend Sarah. I haven't been back yet, but I will! I loved it.
• Went to an outdoor movie with our dear friends, Brityn and Max. We had a great time! It was Tarzan...I think we all cried except Max.
• We had a swimming F.H.E. with some of our friends and family. Brandon worked until 11pm that night. We missed him, but it was still great!
• I actually attended a book club where I had nothing negative to say about the book. Which, for me, is unusual.
• I signed up for My Online Chore/Job Chart and so far it has been the most successful tool in getting Abby to work. I will report more on this later, since we are only 3 days in.
• We went out to our favorite Pho restaurant...and it was empty except for the waiter finishing a 13 hour shift. And the lonely waiter talked to us for a long time about being a lonely waiter. It made me very glad to be where I am in life.
• I am growing my hair long and that almost came to an end this week. I have never really had long hair and I am finding it quite the adjustment. I do not look like me to myself. I am having a hard time embracing this flowing locked goddess I see in the mirror...but until I am able to come to terms, I won't be cutting it. Abby, however, got hers chopped off and she loves it. I am having envy of her hair...
• We went to the temple as a primary presidency and I loved it. It was all Lindsay's suggestion- she always makes me a better person.
• I discovered Netflix....and I haven't gotten anything serious accomplished since.  

The first step is admitting you have a problem

I think we all know by now that I have a bit of a pattern. I let an inexcusably long time lapse between writing blog posts and then I try to catch up, using fragments of my memory, google calendar and grainy cell phone pictures. I don't think I see the grainy pictures ending (it's so convenient!), but I can do a considerably better job of posting. In fact, I've added it to my Wednesday to-do list as a permanent fixture. Let's see if that works...considering it hasn't worked with my set to-do list days of "deep cleaning" and "exercise" I am a bit nervous!

Mother's day was great this year! it is officially my favorite holiday. My parents were awesome to me and treated me to a box of chocolate covered strawberries. When they arrived, the tag said I only had 48 hours to consume them to guarantee freshness. I took my job very seriously and made sure to meet my deadline. I'm nothing if not responsible!

 

Primary was great on Sunday. The kids sung a song that made me cry and they were all really good in sharing time (probably because I wasn't giving it, I do manage to bring out the rowdy). We had a nice dinner over at the grandparents followed by a romantic midnight scorpion hunt with Brandon. We found 15! That's a record for us.

On Friday, I made a traditional picnic and we headed over with our bike (yes, that is singular, since only Abigail has one) to the new park in Whitney Ranch. When we parked our car there was a man strapping his little girl into her car seat getting ready to leave. He asked us if we were planning to go over and play at the park. We said yes. He said, "well, those punk teenage kids are using all types of language so we are leaving." I loved it! Sometimes it's nice to know that it's not just you who gets irritated by the total lack of propriety by today's youth. (That's a fancy way of saying, "kids these days!")

Scenic Las Vegas: Dangerous Snakes, Dog Poop Bags and Trash Cans.

These are my legs are after I fell/fainted backwards into our hallway which leads out to the garage. I know the scene into my garage makes me look like a hoarder but this is actually all of my dear friends, family and ward member's....well....crap.The second annual cub scout garage sale was held again at my house this year- curse me and my tidy three car garage! I actually don't mind, except this time I got really, really sick....like, see a bright shiny light and my ancestors are calling to me kind of sick. Thus, the fainting. I actually took this picture as a reminder to myself to not sign up for this particular activity again next year.

 This is a picture Abby took. Once a month, we go out as a primary presidency and visit with/drop a treat to each member of a different class. This month was CTR 6 (which is Abigail's class). She took about 15 pictures of the tag that came with the treat and three of the treat itself. Nice to know someone gets excited about seeing the primary president!

Teacher appreciation week was last week. It was super fun! I was in charge of decorating the window for Abby's teacher and for the custodians. I took pictures of all of the kids in a halo (since her teacher calls them her "angels") and used those for Mrs. McCall's windows. The custodians got candy grams. We sure got lucky with Abby's teacher this year. She even stopped by with her son last night for a surprise visit on their way back from basketball practice. She is a mom of an only child as well and him and Abby have pretty much adopted each other this year.

 Abby cooked! I brought home a kid's cookbook from the library with over 200 recipes in it. I asked her to pick which one she would like to make. She flipped straight to the back and picked brownies. What can I say? The toffee covered, chocolate chip coated apple does not fall far from the ooey-gooey marshmallow tree.

I know Easter is too far back to catch up...but here are scenes from Abigail and my spring break to Pasco, Washington. Brandon was missed, but someone has to pay for our movies, lunches and shopping!

Other notables for the week include:

 

• One of Abby's best friends, Emma, turned 7 today. It was so fun to go over and visit with her. It's hard to believe these two have played together every week since they were 2!
• I started making my own pizza dough. It's really fun and really tasty. Well, tasty to everyone but Abigail. She still prefers frozen pizza and Little Caesar's $5 Hot and Sweatys to anything I make. This came as no surprise to me.
• Brandon and I are finalizing details for our trip to Rome. I checked out several books on roman history and I am practicing my Italian. It's getting bene!
• I also made homemade biscotti and an Italian custard this week to celebrate our trip to Italy. Everyone loved it...but Abigail. Again, this came as so surprise to me.
• Abby went to art camp where she painted her self portrait. I will be framing it.
• On Friday afternoon, we had Thomas over to play. The play date ended with lots of neighborhood kids running through my house, grabbing popsicles, and running back out to ride bikes and scooters together. I love this stage of life.
• I called the police this week. Always fun.

 

Until next Wednesday! Ciao! (yes, I am practicing mia Italiano on you)

Happy Mother's Day Patsy Thompson!

Happy Mother's Day, Mama! this year, for mother's day, we are taking you on a virtual trip to Henderson, Nevada. I know you haven't been able to come and see us in our virtual habitat, so we made some videos for you so you can experience life with the Leavitts. I wish we could be there with you today, but hopefully these videos will help you feel like you're here with us.

We love you!

Love- Jamie, Brandon and Abby

Abby riding her bike in our neighborhood.

Welcome to the Leavitt house!  (You're going to want to turn your neck sideways, or watch this on a lap top so you can turn it sideways.)

Abby practicing for her recital. The costumes are as bad as I said, aren't they?

Abby's school tour

Abby's scooter tour

Abby taking you on a tour of her room